1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for controlled distribution of information.
2. Description of Related Art
Given an infrastructure for exchanging information between parties such as the Internet, no known method has replaced the traditional paper business card as a convenient and straightforward method of exchanging information between two or more parties. The paper business card is limited in terms of range of content, capacity, flexibility, currency, and control of information. Business cards typically include only printed information, and are small in dimension. If the information on a card changes, redistribution of an updated card can be difficult. Further, once a business card is issued, there may be no way to control the distribution of the information it contains to a third party. If a party has more than one capacity, it may be desirable to have a business card for each capacity. However, having different types of information for different parties can be inconvenient; furthermore, selection of the proper card can complicate the exchange of information.
Personal data assistants (PDA's) have introduced electronic business cards that can provide greater range of content. PDA's can convey marginally more information than the traditional paper business card and can include components such as images. However, the electronic business cards have limited capacity, flexibility, and currency, and control of information may not be possible. PDA business cards do not address the currency, redistribution, access and use issues of paper cards.
Therefore, a need exists for a portable indication of a client's information, providing status information and a method for requesting and enabling a response.